The usual air cooler (air conditioner) of the evaporative type employs a centrifugal type fan which draws air through a moist pad of woodwool or other absorptive material, and discharges it to the space which is to be cooled. One commonly used arrangement employs a semi-circular plate with a plurality of radiating ribs on its upper surface, and a depending flange, the flange overlapping the upper edge of a curved woodwool pad which depends from it and is supported at its lower ends by a support structure. Reference can be made to our co-pending Australian Application No. PF 9415 entitled "Water Distributions Means for Air Cooler".
For the sake of compactness, it is usual for the woodwool pad to partly surround the fan volute casing, and some effort is usually made to reduce the likelihood of "short circuit" of droplets of water into the air stream which can occur if air is free to pass between the water spreader and the absorptive pad.
The main object of this invention is to provide an effective combination of fan volute and spreader which will reduce the need to have a separate spreader, and provide a very compact and effective support means for an absorptive pad, and which will be inexpensive in production. Another object is to provide means whereby the pad replacement is simplified.